1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a voice response system and more particularly to a system in which a voice response apparatus automatically responds to an operation signal or the like from a telephone terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Voice response units (apparatus) have been used in reservation systems, educational systems, call centers, promotion systems and the like. In a voice response system using such a conventional voice response unit, the voice response unit reproduces a predetermined or relevant voice signal corresponding to a request by a PB signal transmitted from a telephone terminal such as a remote fixed analog telephone, portable telephone, or IP telephone, or a request through a voice signal (a request grasped by voice recognition) and transmits to the aforementioned telephone terminal so as to produce a voice sound (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-344632).
However, in the conventional voice response system, the telephone terminal only outputs voice sound from a voice signal (for example, monaural signal of 3.4 kHz or less) transmitted by the voice response unit.
For example, if the voice response system provides a sales promotion message, often, just outputting a voice sound from the sound signal received by the telephone terminal does not appeal so much. If the voice response system is used in an educational system, just outputting a voice sound from the voice signal received by the telephone terminal does not make people interested in it, thereby possibly dropping the educational effect or reducing a dialogue continuing time.
Accordingly, a voice response system capable of raising the appeal performance to a listener has been demanded strongly.